On Balance

By Ursula Sullivan+Joanna Strumpf

Hands up who is sick of hearing those 11am updates full of numbers and urgency and generally bad news? Despite how weird and boring and frustrating lockdown is, the numbers are important because they give us an idea of the state of play, an objective aerial view of the situation.

About 10 years ago, we were shown another set of figures. The figures that showed the gross imbalance of female to male representation in museums and commercial galleries (thank you The CoUNTess Report). We had smugly scorned the museums for extreme neglect of female artists, and yet, when our figures were shown, it was a shocking realisation that we were part of the problem. We were blissfully ignorant that only 30% of our represented artists were female. It meant that we needed to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Today, we can proudly say that our numbers stand at 50-50 female to male representation. We were determined to not just take on female artists simply because they were female and simultaneously, not reject male artists simply because they were male. Calibre and potential had to remain key but we needed to check our blindspots and question our oversights.

This magazine issue is full of some of these amazing female artists. Like Lara Merrett, a superstar who has recently kicked big project goals at Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, UQ Art Museum and Artspace, Sydney.

There’s the sublime Kirsten Coelho who, with more than three decades of exhibiting under her belt, can truly be called a master ceramicist.

We learn about LA based Jemima Wyman’s meticulous photocollages which focus on the aesthetics of global activism. Using thousands of images of smoke and gases used to break up protests from around the world, her work is, as curator Tim Riley Walsh writes, ‘a reminder of our power and our fragility.’ The fabulous Joanna Lamb, who has been with the gallery almost since our beginning in 2005, lets us into her Perth home and studio in the lead up to her November show and tells us why both a Peter Booth and a bicycle vie for her ‘most valued object’ status.

We are incredibly excited and proud to be working with these talented artists and to be telling a genderbalanced story of contemporary art today. This, of course, embraces all our artists. Also in this issue, we proudly feature two very exciting contemporary visual artists—Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran and Michael Zavros, both of whom are busy preparing for their upcoming October and November shows.

For Ramesh, it will be his first solo show since his acclaimed Avatar Towers project at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last year. Over 70 works were acquired by the Gallery, surely one of the largest single acquisitions of work by a living contemporary Australian artist. His new show certainly doesn’t disappoint either, and Tai Mitsuji’s essay reveals some of the complexity in this new body of work.

Michael Zavros’ cheeky essay reveals an irreverence to, and independence from ‘artworld pretence’. Amusing yes, but ultimately a red herring to the intensity and discipline of his work and life.

Tim Silver has the last word—with our own Alexandra Pedley. A glass of red in hand, they cover lots of ground including Tim’s upcoming show, making art in the COVID age and the need for humility and understanding.

So thanks for the numbers Gladys, Daniel, Annastacia and The CoUNTess Report. They keep things in perspective, and direct us to do the things we need to do, like have gender balance…. And get vaccinated.

Enjoy,

Urs & Jo